


Cat Grant and Kara Danvers in: A Cinderella Story

by caycep



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25554439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caycep/pseuds/caycep
Summary: The Cinderella AU you didn't know you needed in your life
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26
Collections: SuperCat Christmas in July 2020





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nicoleks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicoleks/gifts).



> I apologise in advance: this isn't your usual Cinderella story. I wanted to write that, I started out writing that, but my hand slipped and I veered off into fantasy territory. I hope yall still enjoy it, I sure had a good time writing it!

The girl came out of the river coughing and shaking, dropped to her knees in the grass, and took several shaky breaths between sobs. She couldn’t have been older than 12, and looked like a little bird fallen out of a nest: shocked, out of place, wondering which way was up, and Eliza couldn’t help but feel an immediate sense of connection with the poor creature.

“Hello,” she said, approaching the girl with cautious steps, careful not to startle her, “I’d like to help you, may I come closer?”

The girl lifted her head sharply to look at her but didn’t respond, two big blue eyes in the middle of a gaunt face, long blonde hair streaked with mud - Eliza would have expected her to look scared but she looked fierce instead, maybe determined, certainly alert, but not quite scared. Eliza smiled once more, took a few more steps, then crouched to her level, offering a hand.

“My name is Eliza, what is your name?”

“Kara” the girl said, in a half whisper. She shivered visibly and her teeth had started chattering from the cold.

“Oh you poor thing, you must be freezing! Here, have this” Eliza handed her her cloak and watched her relax as the fur lined fabric did its job and lent some warmth.

“Did you fall into the river? Where are your parents?”

The little girl called Kara opened her mouth to respond, but a choked gasp blocked her instead, she swallowed, tried again. “My parents... are dead”, she looked to her feet for several seconds before lifting her gaze back to meet Eliza’s “the river... they told me to swim.”

***

Later on, as Kara was wolfing down her third bowl of soup, Eliza sat in a chair by the hearth with her daughter Alex.

All her life she had wished to have another daughter, and at her age, her husband dead for many years, she had resigned herself to the thought that her dream would never come true. Until that night: as she rode back from the village, taking the shortcut that went by the river, she had seen a figure thrashing by the shore and stopped the horse cart to lend a hand.

“Tonight we receive a gift from the gods, Alex, a new sister for you, to join our family”

Alex looked at her with curiosity and wonder: “A new sister? What happened to her family?”

“She won’t talk about it, all she says is that her parents are dead, and that she threw herself in the river to escape. The river brought her to us.”

***

Six blissful years later Eliza, who had taken on some unexpected debt and risked losing her precious dress shop, had been forced to accept a marriage proposal that would get her out of financial trouble, and was soon wed to the captain of the town guard. After the initial excitement, moving into a large new wealthy house, Kara and Alex came to the conclusion that this latest expansion of their strange family wasn’t going to make them very happy.

The captain’s daughters, Leslie and Siobhan, had to be the laziest, most spoiled young women Kara had ever met. They mocked and insulted them at every opportunity, refused to participate in any chore, would scream for their dad to intervene every time Alex or Kara tried to suggest they could at least dress themselves.

***

Ever since Kara had been accepted into Eliza’s household she had done everything in her power to help around, she wanted to feel useful, earn her share. She liked helping out in the kitchen, and cleaning around the house, but her absolute favorite was tending to Eliza’s garden. Her own mother knew everything about medicinal plants and in the patch of grass behind their house had grown and tended to many useful plants. Caring for the plants here felt like a good way to honor her parent’s memory, channel the ache of her loss into something tangible: they were still part of her life even as she settled into a new family.

Alex spent most of her time helping Eliza run the shop, so it fell to Kara to stay home and deal with the whims and tyrannical requests of the Captain’s daughters. She had little occasion to protest, seeing as Eliza was hardly ever home, and soon found herself spending the entire day scrubbing floors, polishing jewelry and serving tea. A maid in all but her name.

At times, when she found her heart too full of sorrow, she would sneak out of the house and run to the old cottage next to the river, sit on a stone and tell her stories to the plants she had spent so much time caring for. She would cry her eyes out, sure that nobody could hear her, so far from the town and any sympathetic soul.

Little did Kara know that she wasn’t alone, in that garden ...

***

Kara jerked awake in startled confusion, finding Alex holding her by the shoulders with an enormous grin on her face.

“Alex? It’s the middle of the night, why did you wake me up?” Kara tried with all her might to be annoyed, but her sister’s smile was contagious and it had warmed her mood up already.

“You won’t believe what I heard today from a customer at the shop!”

“Surely something that warrants waking me up in the middle of the night...” prompted Kara in sarcastic resignation.

“Uh, yes! The queen is throwing a ball this weekend! We _have got_ to find a way to go”

Kara’s mood plummeted again: she had hoped for actual good news! The queen throwing a ball was not something that would ever intersect with her life, no matter how strongly she wished it could “Alex... I really don’t see what’s this got to do with us.”

“I’ve got it all figured out, dear sister! Mother has the perfect dresses for us in the shop’s storage, and I have the key! If we are careful with them she won’t ever notice we borrowed them. We can sneak out the night of the ball and guard Winn even told me he can get me two invitations... it’s perfect!”

Alex barely caught a breath during the whole speech and was now staring at Kara expectantly, waiting for her to say yes. Kara was trying very hard not to get as excited as her, and failing miserably.

“You know... it actually might work!”

***

As the day of the ball approached, Kara felt the excitement building up more and more inside her, to the point where it became difficult to hide from others how giddy she felt. She caught herself humming a song as she did the washing, even hazarding a step or two of dance as she swept the kitchen floors.

Her step-sister Leslie caught her staring dreamy eyed out the window, and poked her with the tip of her hand fan.

“What do you have to be so distracted about?” she asked with aggressive annoyance.

Kara couldn’t help but blush in response. “Nothing...” she added meekly.

“I could’ve sworn you were singing earlier, while polishing the silver” sneered Siobhan, as she entered the room.

“Our dear step-sister is a bit simple minded, you see, I bet she was just thinking of a funny shaped leaf she saw yesterday” Leslie teased.

“Of course!” chuckled Siobhan “Or how a stray cat came to whisper the secret to eternal youth!”

They snickered among themselves a while, sustaining the mockery until they got bored and turned to her directly again.

“You should be happy for us instead, foolish girl, we have real reasons for joy!”

“Oh yes, Father arranged for us to be invited to the queen’s ball this Saturday.”

Kara had been staring at them impassively as they went through their stale jests, but had to turn their back on them to mask her consternation. If they also attended the ball, Alex’s plan would not fail, they could risk being recognised, and worse, they could risk the ire of their step-father.

“He also made sure Eliza would prepare some dresses for us, she should have suitable ones in the store to adapt for our size! And you get to help with the fitting later today.”

“It is our special gift to you, after all, that’s the closest you’ll ever be to the ball!”

Siobhan and Leslie erupted into raucous laughter at that, clearly finding ceaseless amusement in their step-sister’s misery, and didn’t notice her storming out of the house in tears, running across town as if she was being chased by a pack of dogs.

***

Kara reached the river shore as the sun was setting. She knelt on the moist grass and started sobbing like she hadn’t in a long time. She felt despair gripping at her throat and slowly choking the air out as the thought of her modest dreams of transgression being crushed by her step-sisters once more. 

_I can’t get any respite,_ she thought, _this life, this priceless gift that my parents paid for with their own life... I am wasting it playing housemaid for those harpies. I can’t stand it!_

Darker thoughts still, threatened to overtake her, but just as she was on the brink of spiraling into deeper depression she saw something that momentarily shook her out of her daze.

There was a woman in the river! In the middle of the current, as if perched on a stone, the water flowing unperturbed at her feet. She wore a long white dress, like a strange nightgown, translucent and at once brilliant. To her profound astonishment, her face looked also familiar: it could’ve been the distance, the slight fog on the shore clouding her sight, but she would’ve sworn it looked exactly like her mother’s.

“Who are you?” Kara said, once the momentary amazement had faded away.

“I am the river, child” the woman said, and in spite of the distance, it sounded like she was standing right next to her.

“Why do you look like my mother?” she surprised herself for having said that as soon as the words were out of her mouth, and she was even more surprised when she heard the response.

“In a way, I am your mother.”

***

Kara had many questions for the spirit: could she really walk on water or was it an illusion? Could she wield other kinds of magic? Was she a witch, a god, or a little of both?

The woman chuckled and smiled, a smile so genuine and warm Kara could feel her own heart melting, she wanted nothing more than to step into the freezing waters in search of their embrace, but the lady in white lifted a hand in sign of stop.

“I feel for you, child. That night many years ago, I heard your family’s plea and it pained me immensely that I could not save your parents. The only way I could bring some balance was by offering you the gift of a new life, a new family. You were born again from my waters and walk on this land carrying a piece of me with you always.”

Kara was slowly coming to realise the truth to her words, and nodded for her to continue.

“These shores will always be a safe place for you, my darling, and that is why you came here tonight with pain in your heart. Tell me how to help.”

And Kara did. She told her the tale of the ball, how Alex and her had planned to attend in secret, and how her evil step-sisters had unwittingly thwarted their plans. How she had longed for any sort of diversion from her tedious life, and this had been just the final straw that broke the camel’s back. One drop too many, in a lifetime of tears, and she’d come here wondering if her parent’s fate might have been a mercy after all.

“Oh, leave it to me, child,” the river spirit said, gliding on the waters towards the shore, and extended a hand to caress Kara’s head “I have just the right idea! Come with your sister the night of the ball, and I promise you, you will go to that party and have the time of your life!”

***

Kara couldn’t believe her eyes, she kept staring at her hands, covered by the softest, most luxurious white gloves that she had ever seen. They were decorated with shining pearls and had ornate motifs embroidered in intricate spirals, flowing from her fingers all the way up to her elbows. And her dress! So light and airy it seemed to be made of butterfly wings! All puffy tulle and strings of silver thread that made her want to twirl and jump and spin her skirts all round. She just couldn’t stop smiling.

Meanwhile the lady of the river had transformed a nearby rock into an elegant carriage, like those of noble dignitaries visiting the court, river frogs into two beautiful horses, and a passing snake into a coachman.

That’s when she saw Alex, standing next to a third white horse: she wore a heavy coat and waistcoat, velvet and satin richly embroidered with golden thread, breeches worthy of a lord, high riding boots of shiny leather, and was holding a hat.

“Oh my, Alex, you look... stunning!”

“Well said sister, I feel properly stunned”

“But wait, what if we run into our sisters? Won’t we get recognised?” Kara asked the river.

“Your sisters are far to absorbed in themselves to see through my magic, it takes a pure soul to cut through the illusion, genuine interest” the river spirit responded with a smile “I am sure it will suit your purposes”

Alex pointed at herself, “how did you know?”

“I saw the truth in your hearts” she said and added a small wink, “now go, my dears, go! The spell will only last until sunrise, for my powers are only as strong as the night. Go and have fun!”

***

The ride to the castle was brief, and before they knew it they were being escorted by pages up the main stairs and towards the banquet room.

Kara kept looking around anxiously, hardly believing that they had made it to the castle after all, and tensed abruptly upon seeing familiar faces huddled in a corner of the large hall, talking at a volume utterly inappropriate for the occasion. Kara pulled Alex behind a pillar in a clumsy attempt at stealth, but felt reassurance upon noticing that their step sisters were both absorbed by themselves as always: Leslie shaken by boorish laughter, and Siobhan all but whacking the young man standing next to her as she gestured at the servant to refill her cup of wine. Their hairdos were the usual ostentatious attempt at imitating aristocracy, and at a second glance their dresses didn’t fit quite as well as Kara had though they would. Siobhan’s corset hung loose, tightened beyond its design, and Leslie’s delicate green silk looked to be almost bursting at the seams.

Kara reflected quietly that it could’ve been them, making fools out of themselves in borrowed dresses, and as tortuous as it had been, she was glad of the strange path that had brought them here, tonight.

Kara had barely a moment to revel in her musings before Alex took her by the hand and, without saying a word, gently led her to the banquet table. It was the most sumptuous feast she had ever seen, real or imagined: there was every possible type of roast, plates of fish adorned with veritable sculptures of vegetables, oh and fruits from all seasons, even some she had no name for, and then so much bread! Buns in all shapes and sizes, savory and sweet, and saucers with gravy and jams, tall pyramids of potatoes, and ... she could barely contain her hunger enough to observe how the other guests were behaving, and took one of the plates offered by the servants, found a quiet corner to sit down to eat a delicious slice of banana cheese pie.

So focused Kara was on her fourth slice of pie, currently being washed down with exquisite sweet wine, that she failed to notice the room had suddenly fallen silent. It hit her all at once, then, when her head rose a moment from the plate and saw the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, walking across the room, oh so graceful, as if gliding between the guests.

 _“Princess Catherine!”_ Kara thought to herself. It was rumored the queen threw this ball in the hopes that the princess might meet a man worthy of her hand. Ever since coming of age the princess had refused any who had offered, and as the reigning queen was aging herself, she was starting to become increasingly impatient about securing a successor to the throne.

Kara couldn’t keep her eyes off the princess, so minute and elegant, with a brilliant smile and dazzling brown eyes, and felt her heart all but climb up her chest and into her throat as she observed the princess wade through the crowd, getting closer and closer, until she was standing right in front of her. Kara sat, her hands sticky from the pie, staring, open mouthed, as the princess smiled at her, thinking that she might very well burst into flames at any moment.

“And who might you be?” Princess Catherine asked, visibly amused.

“Ehr...” Kara blinked a few times, fumbling for a response.

Before Kara had a chance to come up with a convincing lie, the princess pointed her chin slightly towards the stack of plates on the table next to Kara. “I see you’ve had a chance to enjoy the desserts. Frankly I’m glad someone does, our cook is sorely underappreciated.”

Kara felt mortified, the future queen had approached her and the first thing she said was along the lines of ‘ _you sure eat lots of dessert’_.

“Not to mention your table manners,” she continued, “how can a young noblewoman not know any better than to pick crumbs off plate with your finger?

“I... apologies, your highness, it all looked so good”

The princess dismissed her with a hand gesture and laughed, “You amuse me, and I am terribly bored tonight.” She extended a hand, which Kara hesitantly accepted, after wiping her hands on the tablecloth.

“Dance with me, strange girl.” was all she princess said, before pulling her to her feet and towards her, dangerously close. With her head full of the intoxicating royal perfume, Kara couldn’t think to do anything other than dance.

And dance they did.

They swayed together, driven by the music suddenly filling the room, as if they alone knew how to move to the tune, as if their feet, their hands, their hearts were being lifted off the floor, carried by the melody reverberating in their bodies.

For the first time in a long time, Kara felt herself relax, her forehead falling to rest against the other woman’s, forgetting for a minute who she was, who they were, the river spirit, the ball, the guests, the whole castle full of witnesses, some of whom were likely staring at the princess and a strange woman in a silver dress, dancing their hearts out in the middle of the room.

That was the first of many dances, they went on for what seemed like hours, and only when they were out of breath did they decide to stop. Kara had been smiling so much her face hurt, and when they found a quiet corner to sit and have a sip of wine she realized she needed the respite.

The princess took her hands and told her of her life as the future ruler of the kingdom, spoke of how little the queen cared about her, her only concern the incessant pressure to find a man and produce an heir. The trouble was, Catherine wasn’t interested in any of the men, she was convinced there must be more to life than having children, and seeing them grow up and rule the land one day. She dreamed of ruling the land herself, doing things her way: bringing justice and hope to the people, instead of perpetuating the cycle of exploitation!

As the night went on, Kara couldn’t stop listening to the princess’ incredible stories, and whenever Catherine asked about her own life, she managed to deflect by asking more questions, complimenting her beauty and dancing prowess, taking larger and larger sips of wine.

“Come now, my mysterious lady, dawn is almost upon us, we should find you some chambers to take some rest, there is much I want to ask on the morrow”.

And at the mention of dawn Kara froze. The spell! It was going to fade at any moment! Oh she had been so _stupid_ , completely lost track of time! “ _I must find Alex, we need to leave *now!*”_ she thought _._ And so as the princess had her back turned to inquire about bedchambers for her new friend, Kara slipped away and started walking up and down the main room, looking for her sister.

She found Alex asleep against a chair, a flagon of wine in one hand and a young maid wrapped around her torso. Without wasting any time, she grabbed her by the shoulders to shake her awake.

“Alex! Alex! We have to go!”

“Wait what?” she responded groggily

“Alex the spell! Please? We must hurry.” Kara managed to disentangle her sister from the sleeping girl without waking her, and dragged her towards the exit.

She noticed now clearly that her dress was becoming translucent. From the windows the dark of night appeared broken here and there by the promise of light on the horizon. They quickened their steps.

Once at the entrance they spotted their carriage, now tinged with patches of gray, and the horses stomping their feet and neighing in a strange pitch. They ran in, trying to ignore the coachman’s forked tongue and conspicuous scaly skin, as he reassured them that they’d be back in time.

***

Princess Catherine was shocked. The girl was right there a minute ago! She’d turned around, once the servant took his leave, and observed the empty space behind her where she should be. She couldn’t help but clench her jaw in frustration: nobody, _nobody_ had ever dared snuck away from her.

She searched frantically around the room, and caught the tail of a familiar dress as it disappeared through the main door. Trying to run after her was unladylike, especially on feet that had already suffered through a whole night of dancing, but she decided to do it anyway.

The guards looked stricken to see her exert herself so, and much too terrified to intervene. They likely judged that, had she required their assistance, she would’ve yelled at them long ago.

It took forever to reach the other end of the great banquet room and, by the time she did, she was incredibly short of breath, ready to resign herself to the reality that the girl was long gone. She walked towards the main entrance and held herself up by the side of the door, observed what would undoubtedly be her carriage driving down the road. It got smaller and smaller with every one of her exhausted breaths.

That was when she noticed something shimmering on the steps below. Curious, she approached the staircase and bent over to pick up a single silver shoe. One that looked very much like the one the mysterious girl was wearing.


	2. The ending

The ride back was desperate, frantic, Alex spent it urging the increasingly lizard-like coachman to go faster and faster. They rode back to the familiar river shore, the very place their adventure began mere hours before, and arrived just in time for the carriage to revert back to its pumpkin state unimpeded.

Kara knelt in the grass, staring at her hands and the frayed edges of her old dress, doing her best to hold on to the memory of the night. Right up until a minute ago she’d been a glamorous, mysterious woman, flirting with the future queen, cocky and confident. How was she supposed to go back to her old life, knowing what it felt like to have another one? A much better one?

She really didn’t think it through: all she ever wanted was to be at the party, to look at the people, admire their beautiful dresses (to eat some of their food perhaps), she never imagined she would have attracted any attention! And now that the princess had taken an interest in her... what if they hadn’t been interrupted by the threat of morning, what could’ve happened?

On top of everything she lost a shoe! In the hurry to run to her carriage she must have tripped on the stairs, one of her fine slippers now lying somewhere - by the time she noticed it was missing, the other one had already transformed back into an old battered shoe - _they were my only pair damn it! now who’s going to tell mom I need new ones?_

One thought above all she couldn’t shake: intoxicated as she was by the taste of a better life, a drug more potent and addictive than she ever would’ve thought, she was no longer content to play servant in her own house. Dirty, hungry, always dutiful and obedient in the hopes of begging for some scraps.

She felt sick to her stomach just thinking of that, eyes swimming with tears of frustration, feeling for the first time as if she could just scream her lungs out instead of crying - the strength of her grievance shaking her with all its might.

She jerked in surprise, as she felt Alex’s cool hand on her arm, and twisted to face her, still shaken.

“I know how you feel” Alex said, with a gentle smile.

 _‘How can you?’_ she was about to spit back, but stopped herself just in time, for her sister had been there with her the whole time, surely she must have felt the sharp pain of reality just as she had. She was just trying to help.

The time had come to walk home, Alex suggested, before anyone noticed their absence. She hoisted her sister from the ground and they both turned to face the road, ready to head back to town.

“You go ahead” Kara said after a moment “I want to stay a bit longer.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I just need to be alone for a bit, I think.”

***

Once the sound of Alex’s footsteps had disappeared in the distance, Kara turned towards the river, headed for the familiar stone on the shore and sat for a minute or ten, contemplating with renewed clarity the impasse at which she found herself.

“What can I do, river spirit? I thought this night was going to make me happy but when I look inside myself I can only find anger...”

“My darling girl, you finally get it! This is all I wanted for you, to have a taste of freedom!” The spirit’s smooth voice seemed to bounce on the water splashing nearby, reaching her and wrapping her in a soft embrace.

Her light kept approaching, shining brighter and brighter. As Kara lifted her head to look up, she found that the river spirit was standing beside her. She held out a hand.

“Grab a hold of that spark, my child, take that glimmer of hope in your heart, turn your anger, your frustration into a weapon of change. Wield the possibility!”

Kara’s hand touched the woman’s and she immediately felt a jolt of energy run through her, cool and hot at once, coalescing into something strong, deep: she felt _magic_ awaken in her.

The river spirit disappeared as quickly as she had materialised, no amount of questions and begging would persuade her to return, to explain what had just transpired. Surprised but strangely comforted by the mysterious interaction, Kara decided it was finally time to head home.

***

The princess was exhausted, it had been a very long day of marching up and down the streets of the city, her delicate shoes sinking in the mud. The hems of her beautiful dress were irreparably soiled, and sweat stains had started to form in unladylike places. She dabbed at her forehead with a handkerchief as her guards waited for her to catch her breath and choose a destination.

She thought she would have found the owner of the lost shoe by now. In her head she pictured herself, shoe in hand, making a triumphant entrance into the room of an elegant little inn, where the mysterious girl was certainly hiding.

She soon discovered that the only inn in town was many things, glamorous not being one of them, and that the other lodgings weren’t much better. She started knocking on people’s doors, sending her guards ahead to ask the townsfolk, demanding then asking then begging people for information on the mysterious lady who might fit the missing shoe. At this point quite a crowd had gathered, enticed by the idea of getting their hands on the gold coins she had eventually decided to offer as a reward for information.

Quite frankly, she was ready to give up. Her feet ached, her corset was uncomfortably tight, and she just wasn’t sure she was ready to meet the woman of her dreams in this sorry state.

Guard Winn approached her at a light jog. “Your highness! Madam princess!” he yelled “The captain of the guard begs your kind presence, he says his daughters were at the party last night - they approach the description...”

Princess Catherine scoffed with disbelief, but then a wisp, a shred of hope took root in her, and she thought to herself: _why not? One more house and then I’ll stop beating this dead horse_.

***

This was the worst day of her life, the absolute worst, Kara was certain. In spite of the river spirit’s cryptic words, in spite of the warm, fuzzy feeling dancing around her heart, she had awoken in her bed, after a few brief hours of sleep, and her list of chores and duties hadn’t been any shorter than usual.

She spent the morning scrubbing the kitchen pots, her hands reddened and sore by the constant scratching. Then served lunch to her ungrateful sisters, who spent the entire meal recounting their adventures from the previous evening’s party, embellishing the story a great deal. What hurt the most wasn’t that she knew them to be the pathetic liars they were, or even that she couldn’t contradict their story without revealing that she herself had been present. The worst thing was that the whole affair served once again as a reminder of what had happened and how it had not changed her life _one bit_.

The worst moment of all was when sister Siobhan, in a pretend fit of clumsiness, knocked a storage jar off the pantry shelf. The fragile ceramic hit the floor and shattered sending lentils everywhere, a great deal of them ending up among the ashes of the hearth. So here she was, kneeling, seething, her throat full dust, blood boiling in frustration, picking lentils out of the ashes instead of getting drunk at a glamorous lunch with the future queen.

Suddenly something clicked in her, and words of the river spirit came back to her memory. She closed her eyes, focused it all on her incredible and strong will, the same will that had pushed her to run faster and faster from danger, the night her parents had lost their life, the will that moved her all those years since, that made her dance and smile at the party, and hope against hope that a better life could be finally hers.

“I’m sick of it!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Her sisters stared at her dumbfounded as she stood up from the floor, brushed her hands clean on her tattered apron and kicked the shards further into the hearth for good measure.

“You can pick your own stupid lentils. I’m done.”

“How dare you speak to us this way?” shrieked a wide-eyed Leslie.

“Get back to cleaning right this minute, young lady!” Her step-father said, raising his voice.

He stood up from the table to confront her, but his resolve seemed to mysteriously wane as she approached him. Kara felt stronger than ever, bigger even. She could see it reflected in the man’s eyes as he retreated into his chair and sat back down as she passed him by, as she made for the front door.

The blinding anger had disappeared, every bone in her body had stopped aching, her world suddenly brighter as the relief of standing up to her abusers started to emerge.

Hand on the door, she was about to open but had to hardly pull at all, for as soon as she touched it the door was pushed open from the outside, and suddenly she found herself face to face with a perplexed guard. 

The guard cleared his throat, gesturing for her to make space, so that he and the rest of his retinue might pass through the cramped entrance.

“Her royal highness, the princess” the of them announced.

***

“It’s you!” The princess said, all but shaking in disbelief.

Everyone in the room was staring. Eyes fixed on her at first, then her hand, and finally the collective gaze fell on the girl standing by the door, covered in dirt and soot, wearing an expression halfway between astonishment and delight.

For a few moments nobody moved, nobody spoke, until the spell broke, and all mouths opened at once, everyone talking over each other. The princess, disgusted by the cacophony, pitched her voice above all others. “Silence!” she screamed, and the room fell quiet for the second time in a few short minutes.

“I can’t believe you’ve been hiding here all this time! I’ve been searching all day!”

The girl looked intrigued and a fair amount surprised, though it was obvious there was joy buried somewhere among all the dirt and shock.

Princess Catherine took a few short step into the room, sitting at one of the kitchen chairs. She gestured to Kara to come sit at the table with her, after shooing away everyone else.

“Guards, please escort everyone outside. I’d like some privacy here.” 

The guards dutifully obeyed, and the door closed with a loud clank. The room returned to its unnatural silence.

“I’m so sorry, your highness...” Kara started.

“Nonsense! Call me Catherine” the princess responded with a soft smile “I’ll tell you what, you could even call me Cat if you like.”

Kara blushed in response and her gaze dropped to the floor.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, my dear, but I do think you owe me an explanation.”

And so Kara told her the story, how it all started by escaping certain death, how mother Eliza had taken her in, and how Alex became her sister, and then how her life had turned into glorified servitude once Eliza had married the captain of the guards. She told of her encounter with the river spirit, how they snuck into the ball, how their evening had turned into a hasty escape. She told her how she never meant to deceive, but only to have one _good_ day, one good night! How she dared to dream of a better life, and secretly still hoped to find a way to achieve it.

“You know, when I went out this morning, I was ready to whisk you away to my castle, make you my bride before the day’s end.”

“But...” hazarded Kara, seeing Catherine’s gaze had shifted sideways, to the window, instead of continuing her speech.

“But, my dear girl, after hearing your story, one thing is very clear to me.” The princess paused and reached across the table to grasp Kara’s hands in hers “Your whole life, you’ve been forced down paths others laid for you, you’ve been carried by the current, barely able to swim, and I can’t... I don’t want to make the same mistake. I want to offer you a new life, I want to help. I can help! But I also want to know: what do you want?”

Kara couldn’t stop tears from flowing fast and heavy, streaming down her cheeks even as she smiled “I want to be... away from here,” she said.

“I want my family with me. My real family, my mother, my sister, I can’t bear to be away from them. And I want to get to know you better, I want you to get to know me better too, I want to take it slow. Do you think that’s possible?” 

“Of course, my darling.” Princess Catherine squeezed her hands, and wiped away her tears. “We shall find a place for anyone you want. Anything to make you happy.”

***

The whole town was gathered outside, word had spread quickly of the princess’s search for the mysterious guest. Reward or not, everyone was curious as to what the heir to the throne and the adoptive daughter of the captain of the guard would have to confer about in secret.

Kara and Princess Catherine walked out of the house that day hand in hand. Under the curious, petty eyes of everyone, they exchanged a long, passionate kiss, before making their way to the royal carriage, and towards their new, exciting life together.

They lived happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> The story is split into two parts, simply because this first bit became much longer than I expected. Rest assured that I'm going to publish the ending as soon as I'm done polishing it, in the next couple of weeks.


End file.
